that none but those who had a personal interest in the
welfare of Mistress Lucy, and who had reason to deplore the iron
rule of Vetch, should be enlisted in the enterprise. The sixth and
seventh members of the expedition having been brought into the
council, we talked over the details of the scheme so far as we
could foresee them. My general plan was to surprise the convoy, to
conceal ourselves--myself and Cludde--in one of the wagons, and,
thus gaining the house unsuspected, to steal our way in and then
act as chance might order.

Since we knew not how we might be taxed if we should succeed in
reaching the house, and a march of twenty-five miles in the heat of
the day would greatly impair our energies, we decided to set off at
once (this being Thursday), and spend the night in the forest at a
spot not far distant from the road. The negroes by themselves would
never have consented to this plan, so great was their dread of
bugaboos, but they derived courage from the companionship of white
men, and, to stiffen their resolution, I told them how, when
wearing the crown piece about my neck, I had escaped by night with
nine companions from a place with stone walls ten feet thick. This
impressed them greatly--Noah in particular; and in the evening,
when we halted for our bivouac in the forest, he came to me holding
the string on which the coin was suspended, and put it into my
hand, saying:

"Dis white man's duppy. Massa hab it dis time; Massa got through
stone wall, get through anything. Den I hab it again when Massa
done wid it."

I smiled and was hesitating whether to sling it round my neck or to
give it back when Cludde asked me what was the meaning of this
strange talk. As I did not answer at once, Uncle Moses broke in.

"Massa gib dat silver so dat you not be burned, sah. Noah will hab
eber so much more bimeby, 'nuff to buy him free, sah."

Cludde looked at me inquiringly.

"'Tis true, Cludde," I said. "I had to buy you off."

"But I don't understand," he said. "A crown piece?"

"Oh!" said I, feeling a little uneasy lest he should probe this
matter of the crown piece too far, "the negro has the mind of a
child. The price of his freedom is five hundred dollars: he
wouldn't take my word for that sum, but the sight of a coin was
enough."

"But you told me the buccaneers stripped you of your money," he
said, with a look of puzzlement.

"So they did, but I happened to have this crown piece slung about
my neck